1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to pan heads that are used to change the direction in which a camera is pointing while the camera is in operation. More particularly, the present invention relates to automated camera panning systems that are operated by remote control.
2. Description of Related Art
Video cameras are devices that are used to produce video images. The video images generated by the video camera can either be viewed live or recorded for later viewing. There are two primary uses for video cameras. One use is surveillance. The other use is for personal recording of events.
When a video camera is used for surveillance. The video camera is typically mounted at place of interest in order to view activity at that place of interest. For instance, surveillance cameras are used by stores, banks and casinos so that a video record will exist if ever there is a theft or an attempted theft. When a video camera is used for surveillance, the video camera itself is seldom used to directly record the viewed image. Rather, video cameras are connected with cables to remote recording devices that record images generated by the cameras. Since the surveillance cameras do not directly record, they can be made very small and inconspicuous.
Surveillance video cameras are sometimes mounted to motorized pan heads. The pan heads are often controlled by the security personnel who are observing the images being generated by the surveillance video cameras. In this manner, a security officer can cause a particular video camera to zoom in on a particular person or event and the surveillance video camera can be caused to follow that person or event across a predetermined range of view.
When a video camera is used for recording personal events, the operation of the video camera is very different. A video camera that is configured to record personal events is typically a mobile handheld camera. Furthermore, the image viewed by the camera is recorded directly by the camera on a tape or magnetic disk that is located within the camera. As such, video recording cameras are generally larger and bulkier than surveillance cameras. Personal video recording cameras also contain some form of viewing screen that enables a person holding the camera to visualize what the video camera is recording. Thus, personal video recording cameras are designed to be manually maneuvered in order to have the video camera follow a person or event across a range of view.
Although personal video recording cameras are designed to be manually operated and oriented, many personal video recording cameras do come with infrared remote controls. However, these controls only enable a person to remotely start, stop and zoom the video camera. The remote controls provide no ability to pan the camera across a range of view.
There are many situations where it would be convenient for a person to be able to pan a personal video camera from a remote position. For example, if a parent is sitting in an audience of a school event, it would be rude to stand up in order to clearly video record the event. However, if the parent merely left the personal video recording camera running on a tripod near the stage, the event could be clearly recorded without any inconvenience to others. However, if a person does leave the video camera, that person abandons the ability to manually pan the camera and properly center the event being recorded.
A need therefore exists for a system that enables a person to sit remotely from a personal video camera, yet view the image being recoded by that video camera and pan the camera to control the position of the video camera. In this manner, a personal video camera can be left in an unobstructed position and can be used to clearly record an event by a person sitting in an obstructed position. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.